


making our own traditions

by rikubean



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, but it COULD BE if they WANTED IT TO BE, valentines day isn't a thing for witches, with bonus appearances of Mavis Spellbody and Ursula Hallow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22726528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikubean/pseuds/rikubean
Summary: Witches don't do Valentine's Day.Hecate marks the previous day off in her calendar and takes no special notice to the date. She's not in the habit of actually walking the corridors of the castle, either, so she sees none of the decorations in the hallways during her transfer directly to the great hall for breakfast.--or, witches don't do Valentines Day, but Cackles does.
Relationships: Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom
Comments: 12
Kudos: 38





	making our own traditions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cassiopeiasara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiopeiasara/gifts).



> I wrote this quickly during work because I wanted to do it yesterday and played Witcher instead. 
> 
> This is unbeta'd and barely edited because I wanted to both surprise Cass and also post it while it was still Valentines here!

Witches don't _do_ Valentine's Day. 

Hecate marks the previous day off in her calendar and takes no special notice to the date. She's not in the habit of actually _walking_ the corridors of the castle, either, so she sees none of the decorations in the hallways during her transfer directly to the great hall for breakfast. 

Once there, she's given no time to notice the paper hearts hanging from the ceiling before Mavis Spellbody ambushes her to inform her of some sort of nefarious goings on in the library. With an aggravated noise that mourns her morning tea, Hecate vanishes with a near violent hand motion to see what on Earth Ursula Hallow is up to now. 

In her haste, Hecate also does not see the wink Ada Cackle gives to Mavis, nor the sweet she hands the girl as she rushes off to rejoin her friends at the table. 

Ursula Hallow is not in the library. Hecate clenches her fists and grinds her teeth but has been reprimanded too recently for transferring students without warning that she instead transfers to the potions lab to prepare for the third year's exam to relax her frustration. The quiet sorting of ingredients calms her, much more than dealing with Ursula Hallow's excuses and reasons that Mavis Spellbody is the one to blame would have been, and she sits back contemplating breaking her no food in the lab rule just this _once_ so that she could enjoy her tea in the quiet. 

She doesn't. Because how can she expect anyone else to obey her rules if she doesn't. But Hecate _wants_ to, and the thought is enough to send her to her own often disused office in order to finally have a small scrap of breakfast. 

She doesn't go to Miss Cackle's office, even though she's been invited to, particularly after accepting the promotion to Deputy Head. It still feels an imposition. If she _had_ gone to the Headmistress's office, she may have gotten a clue as to how the rest of her day would go. The office was draped in red and pink streamers and paper hearts and flowers. 

Her earliest class of first years are less focused than usual, something she can easily pick up on. Rather than investigate the cause - as doing so would only encourage the distraction longer - she instead roars for silence and proceeds to demonstrate their potion _again_ and turns them loose to brew their color change potions. She turns her back on them to double check the ingredients for the afternoon exam and doesn't see them return to passing handmade paper hearts back and forth when they know she isn't looking. 

As Hecate frequently skips lunch in order to catch up on marking and preparation, her absence is not missed, nor does she expect anyone to take notice (Miss Cackle does, she would learn later, but not for the reasons she assumes at the time). Her third years are her final class of the day, all the more reason she scheduled the day for the exam, to give them their free period to study. 

Loud giggling from outside interrupts this musing. Hecate makes an effort to ignore it, truly she does, but when the chattering and happy noises only continue without tapering off, she has to close her gradebook to investigate.

A fire blazes on the grounds. A bonfire. And there's a bubble of…. Hecate reaches out with her magic to feel the edges of a warm weather spell, not something she'd expect any student capable of maintaining (perhaps the fifth years' coven, but the cast feels _whole_ and _solid_ and with that slight air of _tenderness_ that she's come to associate with Miss Cackle's magical signature).

Hecate frowns at the sight. What a frivolous display of….of remarkably efficient spellwork, if only missing a silencing charm within the bubble. Still, the girls should be paying attention to their studies, not winter bonfires in midday when it wasn't even a Sabbat. 

She transfers to within the weather spell (she's irritated, not immune to the cold) and opens her mouth to remind any of the third years that her exam won't study for itself when she catches sight of Miss Cackle in the glow of the fire and Hecate's breath catches in her throat. 

The firelight does remarkable things with the streaks of grey beginning to appear in Ada's hair, her soft smile much more effective in lighting up the small space. She's teaching the younger ones how to fold crepe paper into flowers, the more daring students already armed with a pile of paper roses at their feet. Mavis Spellbody runs up and clumsily places a crown of paper roses on Ada's head, blushing furiously at what is most assuredly praise for a job well down. 

Ada - _Miss Cackle_ , she needs to be Miss Cackle - sees Hecate standing there and offers her an unapologetic grin before rising and walking to greet her. Hecate wishes Miss Cackle didn't look as if she were willing to bear the oncoming lecture to spare the students their moment of happiness. But it _was_ why she had come outside.

"I was hoping you wouldn't find the idea too frivolous," Miss Cackle says, as if Hecate should have known this…. activity was to take place beforehand. 

The crown shifts when Ada adjusts her spectacles with her knuckle. Hecate's hand itches with the urge to straighten it. 

"What...is this….?" Hecate can't quite manage her usual disconnected drawl. Ada's eyes are so _blue_ , the fire now lighting her from behind.

"You haven't checked your maglet today, have you?" Ada smiles like she expected this, too, and Hecate stutters something by way of a negative. "I know witches don't celebrate Valentine's Day, but the girls were very determined. And we can make our own traditions, can't we?"

The last is said in that unsure, hopeful tone that makes Hecate want to simultaneously pull the moon from the sky and throttle Agatha Cackle and never allow Ada Cackle to experience sadness ever again. She swallows and nods slowly. 

"Excellent!" Ada beams brighter than before, even giggling softly. "And I'll make sure the third years finish their crowns quickly so they can prepare for your exam." She winks. Hecate's heart stops. Ada grasps Hecate's hand briefly and turns back to her impromptu craft lesson. 

Hecate stares a moment longer and looks at her hand, seeing a small paper rose in the darkest red crepe paper she's ever seen that Ada left behind. Hecate smiles softly at it and uses her other hand to transfer away.

The paper rose lives in a special box in her potions lab, undisturbed for many years, before a tearful confession of feelings leads to more happiness than Hecate has ever known, until Ada discovers it whilst trying to sneakily place a Valentine's surprise in her wife's classroom. 

Ada decides on a new tradition after that. One in which paper roses substitute for clothing (Several paper cuts later, they settle on a fire and a crown as their tradition).


End file.
